Oriental tobacco, particularly turkish tobacco, is characterized by small leaf size (typically 6 inches long and 3 inches wide) and by being shipped in small burlap-wrapped bales, typically of about 50 lb. weight and having dimensions of 16 inches wide, 16 inches high and 12 inches deep. The leafs are loosely packed in layers in the bale, the layers extending across a minor dimension of the bale.
When said bales are opened, they are steam treated in an enclosed treatment unit to moisten the tobacco, the bales are cut in two, the burlap removed and the bale halves are broken up to separate bale leaves from each other in a rotating cylinder. This procedure does not moisten all the tobacco leaves sufficiently, so that large quantities of leaf fines are produced after break-up of the bale halves.